


Shake That

by A_Modern_Girl



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Dancing, Friendship, Gen, Mentorship, Talent Night, Voyager Talent Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Modern_Girl/pseuds/A_Modern_Girl
Summary: Talent Night is back and Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres has a big problem. . .
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway & B'Elanna Torres
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21
Collections: Voyager Talent Night Extravaganza





	Shake That

**Author's Note:**

> I owe a debt of gratitude to the wonderful @caladeniablue - both for the moodboard over on my tumblr and the insightful beta. Your kindness and encouragement were invaluable. Thanks for helping me bring the Voyager ladies to life!

**15 days to go**

It depended on when you asked, but most days Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres would tell you that tuning the antimatter injectors on the warp core was the hardest job in engineering. It required long hours, attention to detail, and a finesse that simply could not be taught. She only trusted a handful of her staff to do it, but since it also required squeezing through the Jeffries tubes above the warp core, she usually reserved that task for herself. Starfleet regulations insisted that it was a two-person job, but she usually ignored them. 

That night she didn't have to, because the captain had joined her. Whenever they were in a quiet part of space, Janeway seemed to mysteriously appear just when complex maintenance tasks were scheduled. It had rankled at first, but over the years, as B'Elanna gained confidence in herself, she saw the visits differently. She suspected the captain was there to commune with her ship as much as to bond with her chief engineer. B'Elanna could sympathize with that, and they worked long after their shifts had ended in companionable silence.

B'Elanna was just starting on the last injector when her mind wandered back to her disastrous evening the night before. Because of that, she forgot to disconnect the power supply before removing the head cylinder. The nasty shock from the live injector flung her backward and triggered a colorful string of Klingon epithets. Janeway rushed to her side, and started running a dermal regenerator over her inflamed finger.

"I guess I wasn't totally focused," Torres said, apologetically.

“Something on your mind, Lieutenant?” Janeway asked.

“Actually, I was thinking about Talent Night.”

Janeway looked perplexed, "What about it?"

"Have you ever thought about dancing again?" B'Elanna was worried her question was too intrusive, but surprisingly the captain chuckled.

"I would if I could! I learned The Dying Swan when I was six years old. I barely had to practice it, because I had it memorized. Sadly, I don't have time to learn a new routine. Where is this going?"

"Tom and I were talking about Talent Night last night in Sandrine's. So far, the only senior officers to sign up this time have been Harry and the Doctor," B’Elanna paused, unsure how to continue.

"And as much as we appreciate their talents, some variety might be nice." Janeway interjected, “You know, I can always give Tuvok the night off from bridge duty.”

"That won’t be necessary,” B’Elanna replied, “I lost a bet with Tom, and now I have to enter Talent Night."

“Oh, what’s your act?”

“That depends, is realigning a phase coil in under five seconds a talent?”

Janeway chuckled, “It is a valuable skill, but maybe not prime entertainment. Have you considered demonstrating your Bat’leth skills?”

“Maybe,” B’Elanna hesitated, “but I’m worried that some of the crew might find me even more intimidating if I do that.”

“B’Elanna, you have the respect of the entire crew. As for the intimidation,” Janeway shrugged, “I don’t think a little Bat’leth work is going to impact anything.”

Torres wasn’t sure what the captain meant by that, but before she could ask, Janeway continued, "What was the bet, by the way?”

“I bet on Chakotay winning your game of pool last night.”

“Seriously?”

“It was Maquis loyalty!”

“And now, somehow, I’m less sympathetic to your plight,” Janeway said with a smirk, then her expression sobered, "Whatever you decide to do for your performance, I’m sure it will be just fine."

B'Elanna watched as Janeway finished working on her finger, and stretched her hand. Assured that everything was in order, they got back to work.

**14 days to go**

B’Elanna was two-thirds of the way through repairing a temperamental impulse manifold when someone walked up and blocked her light. Whoever it was didn’t announce themselves, so she was pretty sure it wasn’t Tom or one of her engineers. They probably thought they were being polite by waiting for her to finish. B’Elanna tried not to audibly growl as she set down her tools and turned to the interloper.

“What can I do for you, Crewman?” B’Elanna asked.

Megan Delaney was usually bubbly and confident, but today she looked uncertain and fidgety. B’Elanna’s memory of her conversation with the captain was still fresh in her mind, so she made a concerted effort to look more welcoming. She uncrossed her arms, and hoped that the quick smile she gave the other woman didn’t look like a grimace. It must have worked, because Megan returned her smile.

“I’m organizing a Bollywood group dance for Talent Night, and I’m looking for six male-identifying and six female-identifying crew members to participate,” she said, “Tom told me you might be interested?”

B’Elanna took a deep breath. Damn Tom and his stupid bet! She had been so busy with the repairs, she had almost forgotten.

“I know what Hollywood is, but what the heck is Bollywood?” she asked.

Megan’s face lit up. B’Elanna wondered how many people had outright rejected her invitation, without even asking for specifics. B’Elanna tried to pay attention as she was given the run-down on 20th and 21st century Indian cinema. From what she could tell, it revolved around beautiful costumes, mushy, unrealistic love stories, and frequent interruptions for musical numbers.

“The dance steps are easy, because they were meant to be replicated by fans at weddings and other celebrations. You don’t have to be a good dancer, you just have to be able to move!” Megan gushed.

“Hey, who said I’m not a good dancer?” B’Elanna replied.

“That’s- that’s not what I meant-”

“Relax, Megan,” B’Elanna interrupted.

Clearly, she needed to work on sending clearer signals when she was joking. B’Elanna held up a hand to let Megan know she was considering her offer. The conditions of Tom’s bet didn’t require that she perform by herself. B’Elanna wasn’t passionate about dancing, but she was drawn to the idea of performing in a group, if only for the sake of strength in numbers. 

She tried to imagine herself on stage, alone, performing a sequence of Bat’leth maneuvers, and she shuddered. Most days, Tom still had to drag her to the holodeck to spar with him. She couldn’t tell if she disliked it, or disliked herself for enjoying it. Either way, she didn’t need the entire crew’s attention focused on her Klingon heritage when she was still figuring out what it meant to her.

“Okay, I’ll do it, “ B’Elanna said.

Megan clapped her hands with glee. She asked her to report to holodeck two at 2000 hours, and rushed off. B’Elanna shook her head. She had escaped her Bat’leth demonstration for the time being, and she could only hope she hadn’t replaced it with something worse.

When B’Elanna entered Holodeck Two several hours later, she was surprised to find that Megan had taken the time to program a real dance studio. It was light and airy, with a hardwood floor, a mirrored wall, and large windows. She couldn’t be sure, but it looked a lot like New York City outside. Despite her reservations, the setting grounded her, and she strode over to the group with her head held high.

Looking at the faces of the dancers, she decided Megan had assembled a good crew. Megan’s sister Jenny was there, as were several others from the stellar cartography and science teams. Joe Carey was the only other engineer present, and she gave him a friendly smile. If she had to be doing this with a coworker, at least it was someone she trusted. B’Elanna shook herself back to the present just as Megan projected the two dimensional movie that would serve as their inspiration.

Megan hadn’t been lying - the steps were straightforward, almost exaggerated, but in a group, they looked smooth and intentional. B’Elanna wasn’t much of a music fan, but the song had a good beat that she was pretty sure even she could keep up with. By the time Megan had split them up to start working on the steps, B’Elanna was genuinely optimistic. Maybe, she thought, Tom was the one who had missed out by winning the bet.

**7 days to go**

B’Elanna hummed to herself as she made her way to Holodeck Two. The dance group had been practicing every night for a week, and halfway to Talent Night they were looking pretty strong. Tom had been genuinely supportive, and he’d even let her pick a Bollywood flick for their weekly movie night. B’Elanna actually enjoyed the romantic slow burn, and found herself grinning from ear to ear when the main characters finally embraced. Luckily, Tom had fallen asleep halfway through so he couldn’t make fun of her.

She walked in five minutes late, but surprisingly, no one was dancing yet. The music was off, and dancers were chatting in small groups. Megan Delaney was sitting on the floor near the front of the studio, her head in her hands. B’Elanna walked over, fearing the worst.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Jenny quit!” Megan sobbed, “She said I was being a dictator. She won’t dance.”

“That’s ridiculous! You’re a great instructor,” B’Elanna replied, “Do you want me to talk to her?”

Megan shook her head, “No, once she sets her mind to something, that’s it. We can still dance, but the formations won’t look right without her.”

A week ago, B’Elanna wouldn’t have cared how it looked, as long as she didn’t have to get up on stage by herself. Now, she wanted to share her newfound interest, and she wanted her friends to see it done properly. But who could replace Jenny? B’Elanna took a deep breath as an idea formed in her mind.

“Megan,” she said slowly, “If I can find someone to take Jenny’s spot, will you take them? No matter who they are?”

Megan sighed in frustration, “Quite frankly, I’ll take anybody breathing and interested.”

B’Elanna schooled her face into her most dour senior officer expression, “You promise? No matter what?”

Megan looked up at her serious tone. She squinted at her for a minute, and then shrugged, “Sure, I promise, but I’ve already asked the whole crew-”

“Don’t worry about that part,” B’Elanna interrupted, “I’ll bring her to rehearsal tomorrow. Now, should we get back to practicing?”

Megan nodded, and accepted B’Elanna’s help standing up. As the rehearsal got underway, B’Elanna was only half focused on the steps and stumbled a few times. The rest of her energy was concentrated on figuring out how to convince Captain Janeway to agree to her plan.

**6 days to go**

Captain Janeway didn’t immediately dismiss her from the ready room when B’Elanna explained the situation with the dance group, and her proposed solution. Still, the way the captain was rubbing her forehead wasn’t promising. B’Elanna wondered if she shouldn’t have brought a cup of coffee to strengthen her case.

“I thought Mr.Paris was our only 20th century aficionado,” the captain said.

“It is a big part of why Tom and Megan are friends,” B’Elanna knew she was babbling, but couldn’t stop, “and technically it’s early 21st century.” 

When Janeway stared at her pointedly, she shrugged, “I guess it’s rubbing off on me, too.”

“B’Elanna, it was kind of you to think of me - really - but I wouldn’t want to distract the audience from the wonderful work your group has done,” Janeway said.

“Captain, it won’t be right if the crew can’t see it the way it was intended,” B’Elanna argued, “You’ll be a lot less conspicuous than a hole in the formation.”

Janeway gave her a puzzled look, “You really care about this, don’t you?”

B’Elanna took a deep breath, “At first, it was just an excuse to get out of doing the Bat’leth. Since then, it’s gotten under my skin. I don’t know how to explain it. I like being a member of a team without being the leader, I guess. And I want our team to succeed.”

The captain nodded, and looked down to fiddle with the padd on her desk. B’Elanna hadn’t really considered why the dance was important before the captain had asked. Maybe, she thought, her reasoning would appeal to Janeway as well. Suddenly the captain looked up from her desk, eyes narrowed.

“This isn’t a part of Tom’s bet, is it?” Janeway asked.

“Not at all!” B’Elanna replied, more forcefully than she had intended, “Look, the last time we talked, you seemed genuinely sorry about not having enough time to dance. This seems like a win for everybody.”

The captain rubbed her temples again. B’Elanna couldn’t think of anything more convincing to say, so she stood uncomfortably and waited for the verdict.

“Okay, let’s give this a try,” Janeway said.

B’Elanna nodded and quickly excused herself before the captain could change her mind.

She arrived at rehearsal that evening with butterflies in her stomach.

“So, is your friend coming?” Megan asked brightly.

“She’ll be here,” B’Elanna replied, trying to sound confident.

A few of the others arrived, but there was no sign of Janeway. B’Elanna barely listened as Megan rattled off guesses of the identity of the new dancer. Her eyes were glued on the door, hoping that there wasn’t a crisis on the bridge, or worse, that the captain had changed her mind. Finally, the doors opened and Janeway walked in. B’Elanna turned to Megan just in time to see her turn white as a sheet.

“The captain?” Megan squeaked in her ear.

“You promised,” B’Elanna growled.

"Yeah but I had no idea-"

Both women paused as Joe Carey walked over to greet Janeway. They watched, fascinated, as he started walking her through the basic steps. The captain laughed when Carey demonstrated the move known as "screwing in a light bulb," and the sound broke whatever spell had paralyzed Megan and B'Elanna.

"See? It'll be fine," B'Elanna said.

Megan's only reply was a distinctly unfriendly look. Then she put on a smile and called everyone to order. They had to pause more often to get the captain up to speed, but it was clear she was a quick study. B’Elanna watched the other dancers carefully, and it seemed to her that by the end of practice, they were comfortable around Janeway. When the group finally disbanded, the captain moved swiftly to the exit, and B'Elanna had to rush to catch up.

“So, are you going to do it?” she asked.

“I think so,” the captain said, then she fixed B’Elanna with a serious look, “You didn’t tell Megan I was Jenny’s replacement, did you?”

She shifted uncomfortably, “I didn’t want her to say no.”

“B’Elanna,” Janeway said with a sigh, “If you really want to be less intimidating to your subordinates, you need to trust them more.”

“Yes, ma’am,” B’Elanna replied with a jerky nod.

The captain gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, “See you at practice tomorrow.”

**3 days to go**

B’Elanna entered the holographic imaging lab almost at a run because she was late for her appointment with Captain Janeway. The captain gave her a bright smile. B’Elanna couldn’t tell for sure, but she seemed to be in better spirits since they had started dancing. She turned to look at the projection Janeway was working on, and wrinkled her nose.

“What’s that?” she asked, so appalled that she couldn’t be bothered with the niceties of rank.

“I had a few ideas about rerouting plasma flow to increase engine performance, and I wanted you to take a look,” Janeway replied.

“You aren’t going to get more performance if you blow it up!” B’Elanna exclaimed.

Janeway crossed her arms, “I am not going to blow up my ship.”

B’Elanna made her way to the console and started adjusting equations, “Well, you would improve the flow, but the temperature is too high.”

With a final flourish, she ran the simulation. She watched with satisfaction as the holographic _Voyager_ flew along for five seconds before exploding. Beside her, she heard Janeway chuckle.

“Okay, I know when I’m beat,” she said, “How was rehearsal last night? I’m sorry I missed it, but negotiations with the Hakari were more complicated than I anticipated.”

B’Elanna shrugged, “You didn’t miss very much. Megan thinks we’re looking pretty good, so we focused on choosing our costumes instead. Did you get the specs she sent you?”

The blank look Janeway gave her was answer enough. She probably had 20 other reports to read ahead of that one, and had completely missed it.

“We have the lab, why don’t we work on your costume now?” B’Elanna suggested.

“That would be great,” Janeway replied with a grateful smile.

B’Elanna quickly called up the specs for her own costume, and a green saari materialized out of the holographic wreckage.

“I love the color!” the captain exclaimed, “But how does it fit?”

“The draping? It was tricky at first, but Megan showed me how to get it right.” B’Elanna looked at the floor, “I apologized for ambushing her, by the way. We had a good talk.”

Janeway smiled, “I’m glad to hear it.”

B’Elanna noticed that Janeway was looking at the costume with a mixture of confusion and apprehension.

“You know, if you’re looking for something more similar to western Earth styles, you might like a salwar kameez better.” B’Elanna suggested.

She pulled up the specs for the tunic, leggings and scarf. Janeway nodded her agreement and they set to work adjusting lengths and colors. The captain chose royal blue for the tunic, and B’Elanna, after some convincing, programmed a bold, hot pink for the other pieces. As they toyed with sequins and other details, B’Elanna realized that something was still puzzling her after their week of dancing together.

“When I asked you if you wanted to dance again, you said yes,” she said, “but I never fully understood why you signed up in the first place.”

“You mean last time?”

B’Elanna nodded, and Janeway paused her editing to consider. Finally, she shrugged.

“All my career, I had been told that a captain should keep a professional distance. It wasn’t easy at first, but eventually I realized _Voyager_ was different. I decided it was going to be a long journey if I didn’t take the opportunity to really spend time with my crew,” she quirked a smile in B’Elanna’s direction, “Like playing dress up with my chief engineer.”

B’Elanna couldn’t help but smile too, “But don’t you get nervous? Aren’t you afraid of looking silly?”

Janeway shook her head, “I’m scared of a lot of things out here, but that’s not one of them.”

“I wish I shared your confidence,” B’Elanna replied.

“Just try to enjoy it,” the captain suggested, “These are the fun moments, the human moments. Don’t let them pass you by.”

As they resumed their alterations, B’Elanna desperately hoped she could put the captain’s advice to use.

**1 hour to go**

B’Elanna was milling around holodeck one, which was serving as the backstage area for the performance. At their very last rehearsal, Megan had taken away the mirror, and replaced it with a black void which represented where the audience would be sitting. B’Elanna was surprised how much she relied on the mirror for timing, but she adapted. Getting used to dancing in front of her friends and coworkers would be another matter entirely. B’Elanna paced and stretched, and tried not to think too hard about what she was about to do. The doors hissed open and the captain entered.

“Ready?” Janeway asked.

“I guess so,” B’Elanna replied.

She was startled when Janeway grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake.

“You know this dance by heart,” the captain replied, “And more importantly, you are one of the bravest people I know.”

Before B’Elanna could reply, Megan ran over, “We’re on in one minute!”

“Here goes nothing,” B’Elanna said under her breath.

“Hey,” Janeway said, finally releasing her, “We can do this.”

B”Elanna smiled her first real smile of the night, “We can do this.”

“Now let’s go knock ‘em dead.”

“Aye, Captain.”

**Three days later**

“Did you hear the news?” B’Elanna asked.

She had just gotten off the night shift when she noticed the captain getting breakfast by herself in the mess hall. Normally, she wouldn’t have interrupted, but she was excited to share what she had just heard. And, if she admitted it, she missed talking with the captain on a daily basis. As it was, she had barely seen Janeway since the show had ended.

“What news?” Janeway asked with a smile.

“Our act was so popular, Megan is going to start a weekly dance class. She won’t have to run around begging people to participate next time Talent Night comes around.” she said.

“You mean, she won’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for the likes of us,” Janeway teased, “Are you signing up?”

“Actually,” B’Elanna paused, pushing her hair back behind her ear, “I miss my Bat’leth sessions with Tom. I think I want to spend more time focusing on that.”

“Oh really?” the captain said, “You were pretty nervous coming into the performance. I hope that isn’t what convinced you to stop dancing.”

“I was nervous at first! I was so out of it, I spun clockwise instead of counterclockwise in the first turn,” B’Elanna said shaking her head, “But then, the most amazing thing happened. No one laughed, no one called me out. The warp core didn’t explode. After that, it was just - fun.”

B’Elanna looked up, and saw she had the captain’s full attention.

“I think that’s why I want to go back to the Bat’leth. Dancing in front of everyone showed me that I don’t have to be afraid of messing up. That it's a process, like dancing.”

“That’s wonderful,” Janeway said with a smile.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to do a Bat’leth demonstration in the next Talent night!” B’Elanna added.

Janeway laughed, “Well then, you'd better be careful not to lose any more bets!”


End file.
